[Guardian] The Danish parliament has approved funding for a plan to hold foreign criminals on a tiny island, despite criticism from the UN and local opposition.

With Denmark taking an increasingly tough stance on immigration, the government wants to send up to 100 people who have completed jail sentences but cannot be deported because they are at risk of torture or execution in their home countries to the island of Lindholm.

Funding for the scheme was included in the 2019 Danish budget, which lawmakers voted through on Thursday. A centre for people convicted of crimes ranging from murder and rape to less serious offences is to be established in 2021 and will cost 759m krone (£92m).

Lindholm is used as a laboratory and crematorium by scientists researching swine flu, rabies and other contagious diseases. One ferry serving the three-hectare (seven-acre) island south-west of Copenhagen is named Virus.So Lindholm will continue to serve by containing dangerous pathogens.